Your can use your smartphone to look at the eclipse without harming your eyes, if you do it the right way.

CAUTION: Do NOT attempt to take a picture of the sun with the regular camera on the back of your phone unless you have eye protection. You could accidentally look at the eclipse and damage your eyes. Even looking at the eclipse for just a moment can cause long-lasting damage. This is especially true if you are staying in Jacksonville, as we will not be in the path of totality, so there will be no time in which it is safe to look at the eclipse.

Open your camera app, flip to the front-facing camera, and use the camera to look around behind you to find the sun.

Don’t turn around and look at the sun! Also, be careful not to shine a reflection of the sun into someone else’s eyes!

Take a picture or video to commemorate the event!

This is the first total eclipse in North America since the iPhone was invented. Most likely, any selfies you take with the eclipse are going to look awful. No offense. You might be cute, but the pictures will probably be duds.

The iPhone and lots of Android cameras are great at taking photos under ideal lighting conditions, but the solar eclipse is the exact opposite. There will be little to no illumination on you, you’ll be likely surrounded by darkness, and the eclipse itself will be very bright. This makes for complex photography. And, for safety’s sake, you’ll be using the worst camera on your phone.

However, in a pinch, your front-facing camera can help you catch a glimpse of the first total solar eclipse in the United States since 1979.